


Flower Power

by SunAndMoon (LadyMorgaine)



Series: Tattoo and Flower Shop AU [1]
Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Knotting, M/M, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:35:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29392779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyMorgaine/pseuds/SunAndMoon
Summary: Hong Jisoo, happily a flower shop owner, is unlucky enough to land on a list of 'Omega Hotties', which leads to a rush of single alphas attempting to court him. The problem? He's a beta, very happy about it and very not into the mood to deal with alpha bs. Enter Choi Seungcheol, the owner of a nearby tattoo shop, who volunteers to become his shield against all the alphas clogging up his shop.
Relationships: Boo Seungkwan/Chwe Hansol | Vernon, Choi Seungcheol | S.Coups/Hong Jisoo | Joshua, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Wen Jun Hui | Jun/Xu Ming Hao | The8
Series: Tattoo and Flower Shop AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2168325
Comments: 33
Kudos: 144





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> As part of trying to remedy the serious writer's block I've had on my longer series, I'm doing a set of smaller writing exercises to prompts. This was the outcome: A/B/O, Tattoo and Flower Shop, Relationship Development, protectiveness and/or general bodyguarding, along with some kinks I've mostly ignored. Be warned though: the beginning might be fresh and lively, but once they hit Jisoo's apartment they earn the Explicit rating -- do not read if it offends you. Also, this has not been through a beta (or alpha or omega) so pls ignore the little errors.

“Dude,” Jeonghan said happily over the phone. “You’re fucked.”

Jisoo glared at the article on his laptop. “This is bullshit. Are these people bored or what? Is this the new way of following idols?”

The article in question did not change in response to his anger, ritzy and glam with a huge headline: “30 under 30 – Gangnam Omega Beauties!” Nor did a side-shot of his face under the first position, complete with a fetching little paragraph:

  1. _Hong Jisoo_



_Hong Jisoo, the 25yo owner of the Sunshine Flower Shop on XX street, is widely regarded as the sweetest-smelling omega in our little corner of the city. His business is flourishing, but there’s no one to tend the owner as well as he tends his blooms! Lucky customers are all in raptures over his physical perfection: beautiful, lovely smile and with a scent that’ll turn any alpha’s head. One thing is certain, whichever alpha he bestows his charming heart on will be the luckiest man alive._

“I’m not a fucking omega,” Jisoo growled into the phone, ignoring Jeonghan’s hyena-cackle of mirth.

“You are… at least according to this. They’re fighting in the comments whether you smell like roses or lotus flowers,” Jeonghan smirked. “And some of them are speculating a great many naughty things too.”

Jisoo blinked, feeling cross-eyed with irritation. “What?”

“They’re wondering if your slick tastes like honey or cantaloupe. Bah, boring, _whatever_.” Jeonghan snorted.

“I don’t have slick!” Jisoo yelled as quietly as he could, just in case the people in the front of the shop might overhear. “I’m not an omega! I’m a beta! I’m happy being a beta!”

Jeonghan’s tongue-click was very clear. “You look like one, all cute and slim and pretty. There’s one huge problem though.”

Jisoo massaged his brow. “Please. I don’t even know how this could get worse.”

“Your shop’s listed online, remember? Every single alpha in the city is going to come sniffing around there.”

“As long as they buy flowers,” Jisoo grumbled. “I don’t care.”

“Well, we’ll see. Good luck Joshuji.”

Irritated, Jisoo nearly slammed his phone down on the desk and made for the front of the shop. _It’ll be fine. It’ll all be fine._

* * *

A week later, Jisoo was forced to admit that it wouldn’t be fine. Oh, the shop was booming, but there were alphas jam-packed in there every single day trying to woo him, and _none_ of them seemed to get it when he said he was neither an omega nor interested. Instead, it seemed to fire them up even more, made them coo and pay court to him with tactics he’s sure wouldn’t have worked on anyone but the most romance-starved person. At the end of the night, he had to cajole and order them out, and often ended up with his hands in his hair, cursing the article out.

Seeing them line up in front of the shop the next morning made him cringe so hard he turned on his heel and went to get coffee: Seungkwanie could open today, given that he had a very tall alpha dedicated to hanging around him. Instead, grabbing an americano, he looked around for the least omega-looking place he could find.

Five minutes later, spotting a discreet tattoo shop’s sign, he nearly chopped through the travel cup’s rim in satisfaction. _Perfect._

The inside of the shop was cool and dim despite the time of day, but had a very clean look to the brushed metal and leather décor. One wall was covered with the most elaborate sketches, and Jisoo wandered over to browse through them. Tattoos weren’t really his thing but these were _beautiful_ , ranging from simple stuff to intricate full-sleeve designs. The more he looked, the more he wondered…

“Good morning,” someone with an accent said behind him; when he looked around it was a thin, tall Chinese man, wiping his hands as he came from what looked like a booth. “Anything you’re interested in? We do piercings as well. Sorry it’s so shut in still, we’re still opening.”

Jisoo smiled nervously, wandering back to the counter. “To be honest, some… undesirable people were flocking my shop, I just came here for a break. I don’t think I’d do so well with a tattoo.” Never mind that he was angry enough to go for a full suit; Jeonghan would kill him. “But perhaps a new piercing? Like a helix piercing or something, if you do that.”

The thin man grinned at him. “We pierce everything – we’re actually the only shop that’s legal for that in quite a few districts. I’m qualified as an aesthetician – just didn’t follow my parents’ vision of a plastic surgeon. Or, if you want to wait for my boss, he could discuss the legality with you.” He paused. “I’m Xu Minghao.”

_An alpha, but a mated one, giving that bite on his neck,_ Jisoo judged. “I don’t suppose you could tattoo me a mating mark, could you?” he asked sourly. “Maybe then that bunch of assholes will finally get a clue.”

Minghao’s eyebrows arched, but he gave him a gentle smile. “Come around,” he suggested, lifting the divider. “This sounds like a good story in the making.”

A few minutes later, fortified by a very unexpected set of tea cakes to go with the Americano, Jisoo sank back into the piercing chair and watched Minghao sterilize his equipment. “And no matter what I say, they don’t want to catch a hint!” he complained. “I’ve tried talking to them, arguing with them, even fighting with them, and all it does is make them think I’m being coy or something. Sure, the flowers are flying off the shelves, but I don’t want to be hip-deep in courting gifts!”

Minghao giggled, the cutest thing Jisoo had ever heard. “No wonder it’s not working, if that’s how you’re going about it.”

Jisoo frowned. “What do you mean?”

Minghao turned to him and grabbed a pen, turning Jisoo’s face to the light. “I don’t want to talk shit about my own sub-gender,” he muttered, “but that’s not how you go about getting alphas to back off.” Tongue-tip slightly showing between his teeth, he dotted Jisoo’s ear carefully. “How’s that?”

Jisoo took a quick look in the mirror, nodded and frowned thoughtfully.

“If they see each other fighting for you, ah, favour every day, the only thing that’s going to get them to back off is seeing you won over and with someone else. Hold still...” The prick of pain was less than a second before Minghao threaded a small loop into the new hole.

“Hao-Hao,” came another voice from outside the booth, “what are you talking about?”

Minghao straightened, mouthed a ‘my boss’ to Jisoo and tilted his head to the curtain across the booth, clearly giving him the last say.

Jisoo, mollified, nodded, taking another biscuit to snack on.

“Come on in, Cheol-hyung,” Minghao called.

The man that entered seemed only a trifle taller but much broader across the shoulders and thighs; Jisoo nearly swallowed his biscuit whole at the sight of the man’s arms in the sleeveless shirt he had on. _Pretty_ , his mind havered, taking in everything from the top of shocking red hair to very strong thighs that he wouldn’t… he coughed as discreetly as he could, taking a sip of Americano. Tattoos weren’t a thing for him, but on whoever ‘my boss Cheol’ was, they looked _fantastic_. “Sorry,” he got out. “Gossiping.”

Minghao kicked out a small chair for Seungcheol to perch on. “He’s having alpha trouble at that flower shop around the corner,” he explained. “They got it into their minds that he’s some kind of fabulously available omega, and now he’s being snowed under courting gifts despite him saying no thanks.”

“Oh,” Cheol said as he sat down, grinning with the most devastating dimples. “No, that’s not gonna do you any good.”

Jisoo grunted with dissatisfaction as he looked at his newest piercing. “Thus me wandering in here to get away. Besides, I’m a beta, not an omega. Hong Jisoo.”

The smile grew even wider. “And I’m Choi Seungcheol. Feel free to hide out as long as you want.”

Minghao, finished with sterilizing everything again, turned with a fey grin. “He wanted to know if we could tattoo a mating mark for him.”

Seungcheol laughed, oddly high-pitched like Minghao’s earlier giggles. “Unfortunately not, that’s a bit drastic, but…” He paused, looking at Minghao. “Hao-Hao, can you keep the shop for an hour or so?”

“Why?” Minghao asked. “Gonna go play the hero?”

Jisoo blinked. “Sorry, what?”

Seungcheol stood in a ripple of muscle and torn jeans. “Come on,” he said gently to Jisoo. “I’ll walk you back to the shop and turf all of them out. It won’t take long.”

Jisoo wasn’t quite sure what to make of Minghao’s _look_ at Seungcheol, but the man was patently an alpha if the smell coming off him was any indication. “If this plan works, I’ll come back for a thousand piercings,” he swore, bolting the last of the americano. “Let me pay first.”

* * *

The walk back to the flower shop felt odd to Jisoo; he was glad to see that it was open, but _not_ glad to see the people milling around outside it. “Shit,” he said softly as he paused on the corner. “It’s even worse than last week.”

Seungcheol gave a long, noncommittal hmm. “You’re very popular, huh?” he asked curiously. “You must be making money hand-over-fist in there.”

Jisoo shot him a foul look. “Look. This is absolutely one hundred percent not as romantic comedy as it seems, alright? I have employees in there that I don’t want harassed, and I’m not interested.”

Seungcheol returned the look, albeit mildly. “I didn’t think it was. May I hold your hand?” he asked, holding one of his up.

Jisoo’s thought process hitched at the sight of the large, capable hand. For a moment he didn’t understand, and his mind insisted on just admiring it instead, before he finally caught a clue. “Oh! Oh. Yes.” Reaching out, feeling oddly shy, he slipped his hand into Seungcheol’s, ignoring the way heat flushed through his body as the other tangled fingers together. “I’ll… um, I’ll try to act like an omega then?”

“Please,” Seungcheol murmured, shooting him a beautiful megawatt smile. “I get the feeling it’s a performance and a half.”

Rolling his eyes, Joshua dragged him forward. Halfway there he realised he could smell Seungcheol much more clearly – _releasing pheromones?_ – and somehow, by the time they got to the crowd, it was as if his physical presence had changed as well, not just accompanying but _looming_ somehow. It cut through the crowd of alphas like a hot knife through rather melted butter, and Jisoo felt obscurely pleased – not of them were looking at _him_ ; instead, most of them looked at Choi Seungcheol with dismay and irritation.

A press of fingers shook him out of the daydream and reminded him of the act. “Oh… er…” Swallowing, Jisoo pitched his voice up a bit, trying to make it the honey-sweet, dulcet tones of all romance novel omega cliches. “Alpha… thank you so much for walking me to work!” It sounded so, so, _so_ false to his ears. “You’re so kind to me, I’m so lucky to have such a big, _protective_ alpha to take care of me!”

“You’re welcome, juicy baby,” Seungcheol said, voice a few tones lower. “I couldn’t let anything happen after our _special_ night, could we?”

Seungkwan, hearing the last as they swanned into the shop, mimed gagging behind a large sheet of decorative wrap; Hansol just _stared_ at them, either confused or off in another world.

Jisoo tried a giggle, one of Jeonghan’s patented specials. It sounded _ludicrous_ , but all Seungcheol did was squeeze his hand again. “So special, but I’m so tired now…” Through some kind of divine guidance, he managed a pout. “Next time allow me a little more sleep, alright?”

“Hm, only if you’re a good omega for me.”

The charade seemed to hold until Jisoo’s office. He slammed the door shut on the goggling from the front of the shop, pulled his hand back to try and be polite enough to provide Seungcheol with a chair, and collapsed behind his desk, groaning long and loud. “ _Shit_ ,” he muttered.

Seungcheol sank down on the chair, looking around the small office. “Don’t worry, they bought it. I can guarantee you most of the people out there are thinking that I kept you up all night fucking like a maniac.”

Jisoo’s cheeks coloured. ‘Fucking’ was neither a new word nor a new activity to him, but the spin it got coming from Seungcheol’s pretty rose-red mouth got to him somehow. “Brainless,” he muttered. “If we really had been, I’d not be walking right now.” _That_ thought got hastily stuffed away in the recesses of his mind. “You… um, do you want some coffee? Thank you, I really appreciate this, and if you could stay for another hour?”

The dimples showed again as Seungcheol stifled a small sneeze, then nodded, grinning roguishly. “Betas recover fast enough to be able to walk after a night like that then? Something my health lessons didn’t teach me.” He paused. “Please. Do you have a pack of cards around?”

This time Jisoo felt even his ears flush. “Shut up,” he mumbled, and went to dig in his cupboard.

* * *

The first day Seungcheol visited it took two cups of coffee and five hands of cards to get the crowd of alphas outside to thin, and to his surprise Jisoo enjoyed every moment of it. Seungcheol was an odd alpha; he didn’t remark on Jisoo’s scent or that of the flowers, he didn’t mind that Jisoo cheated outrageously at cards, and even Seungkwan – the shop’s resident pillow princess – liked him enough to smile as he made a free bouquet for Seungcheol’s mother, wriggling eyebrows in Jisoo’s direction afterwards.

It took almost a week for Jeonghan to stop laughing over the situation, but Jisoo was so grateful that it worked that he did _everything_ to keep Seungcheol there: coffee, meals, helping him with business strategy for the tattoo parlour; _everything_.

Week three was blessedly clear of anyone, and Jisoo merely texted his gratitude to the other alpha for the morning walks, which turned into a hilarious group-chat when Seungkwan pouted for admission and Hansol and Minghao entered into a meme competition. It was so like the days before that stupid article that he almost thought he had won, right until he went to lock up about a month after the first visit and saw several dodgy-looking figures wandering the street the shop fronted on.

Jisoo might be tough, but he wasn’t _stupid_ with it.

Grimacing, he called the tattoo parlour, body relaxing at the deep sound of Seungcheol’s voice. “Cheol,” he muttered. “I’m sorry to ask again, just when everything quieted down, but I think some of them are back. They’re not coming into the shop either, just waiting around in the street outside, and I don’t want to take the risk.” He blinked at the slow almost-growl from the other side. “Cheol? Hello?”

“It’s okay,” Seungcheol said. “I’ll be over just now.”

He was as good as his word. Mere minutes later he strode into the flower shop, closing and locking the door behind him.

Jisoo swallowed. Something about the way Seungcheol looked piqued his interest; the low sunset light set his hair aflame and his shoulders bulked large under a silky shirt, to say nothing of the way his thighs looked in the tight, _tight_ leader he had on. “Oh…” he muttered. “Did I catch you on the verge of going out? I’m so, _so_ sorry for interrupting, it’s okay, I can get home quite safely on my own, I’m pretty sure.”

Seungcheol’s smile seemed as magical as always, even if the slight traces of eyeliner made his face look just a little more angular. “It’s okay, I postponed.” He risked a look over his shoulder, glaring at the people outside. “They’re really not catching a hint, are they?”

“No,” Jisoo muttered. “And it’s not that I mind fighting if I have to, but I really don’t want to get a police record over something as stupid as this.”

“You shouldn’t be wasting your hands on them in any case,” Seungcheol muttered. “I wonder… is it okay if I scent you? I think that’s the problem, they’re not smelling me on you, even if we’re putting on a good show.”

Jisoo blinked, amazed and slightly boggled by the offer. “Isn’t that too far?” he asked doubtfully. “You’ve been so good about this already, and if you’re already dating…”

Seungcheol’s smile turned skewed, secret. “It was just on my parents’ insistence,” he explained. “Hold still.”

Jisoo held very still as Seungcheol reached to take his false glasses off, setting the round lenses safely to the side before big hands settled around his waist and pinched in. He nearly choked as Seungcheol put him down on the counter as lightly as a feather and stepped closer, _closer_ , enough into his space that Jisoo had to part his legs around his hips for comfort. He had had his share of scenting, but the juxtaposition of that display of power next to the feather-delicate way Seungcheol hooked his collar down made him pause, and at the first gentle touch of Seungcheol’s cheek to his neck he shuddered and closed his eyes involuntarily.

Shivers erupted as Seungcheol buried his face in the crook of Jisoo’s neck, lips settling very softly on the smooth, unmarked skin. Jisoo’s hands shivered in their grip on the counter’s edge and he slumped forward a little, enough for Seungcheol to give a line of tiny, pecking kisses up to the spot just behind his ear. He had known that mentally he had been attracted, but the fire that surged at each time Seungcheol’s thumb rubbed over the glands in his nape made his mind spin.

“Cheol,” he whispered with a soft sigh, squirming slightly as the alpha took his time to rub and caress his scent into Jisoo’s neck; his hands moved from the counter to settle on Seungcheol’s shoulders, fingers helplessly spasming as his heart thudded.

“Jisoo,” Seungcheol murmured back, voice tickling as he switched to the other side of Jisoo’s neck. “Enough already?”

“Yes,” Jisoo stammered. “No. _No_.”

“Then, may I…?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Jisoo gritted out. _Fuck yes!_

The tickly, arousing buzz he felt disappeared in a hot surge of lust as Seungcheol opened his mouth to lave a long, lazy route with the flat of his tongue that traced just along the shadow of his throat, over his adam’s apple and down a bit. One second, then two, before the most pleasurable pain he had ever felt shocked his system into overdrive: the alpha had bit him, and was suckling deeply and hungrily at his neck. Not anywhere near to a marking spot, but right in the shadow of Jisoo’s jaw, right where anything would be obnoxiously visible.

Jisoo’s mouth fell open and his head tilted back at the pleasure-pain sting of Seungcheol’s teeth and tongue; his fingers couldn’t find a place to settle and skimmed over his friend’s muscular build before curling into the shirt over his abdomen, trembling there. His body had no strength, wanted no strength, and he slumped back on the counter in a slouch.

Seungcheol followed him down, hot mouth moving from the mark he had sucked there to nip a tiny string of them on the other side of his neck before he slanted his mouth over Jisoo’s to finally kiss him.

Arching, _hungry_ , Jisoo eagerly moaned into the kiss as he yanked Seungcheol closer; the taste of the man’s tongue was honey and silk in his mouth, laced with a minty something, and he couldn’t get enough of it. Wrapping one arm around Seungcheol’s neck, he hauled him deeper into the kiss, and only came to his senses when the other pulled away by main force, hands on Jisoo’s hips to still their wiggle.

“Jisoo,” Seungcheol muttered, voice rough and mouth swollen and wet. “I…” He broke off, swallowing.

Jisoo trembled where he lay on the counter, staring at a precipice. On one side, he could feel Seungcheol’s body against his, feel how aroused he was despite that they had started this with good intentions. He _wanted_ to take the alpha home or even just back into his office to the sofa. On the other hand, his rational side was screaming at him that they were totally visible, that Cheol was a _friend_ and that he was just doing him a favour.

“I…” Jisoo swallowed and dropped his hands, patting Seungcheol’s stomach for a moment before pushing him away a little. “Sorry. I got carried away a little. Wow. Um. Thank you. If that wasn’t enough, I don’t know what would be.”

Seungcheol’s body had a fine tremor as he stepped away. “Sure,” he finally said distantly. “Yes, I think so too. Sorry. I was too forward.”

“It’s… it’s the smell!” Jisoo hasted to reassure him. “Biological imperatives and all that, right?”

Seungcheol’s eyes narrowed a little. “We can go with that if you want,” he muttered, raking his hair back and wiping at his mouth with the back of his hand. “You’ll be alright now then?”

Jisoo, blood-red, nodded frantically. “I’ll be fine. I’ll, um, call you?”

“Sure,” Seungcheol said, wrinkling his nose. “Call me.”

* * *

“Biological imperatives?” Jeonghan screeched at him as they sat watching a movie on his couch. “You’re gonna blame ‘biological imperatives’ for your neck looking like that? Joshuji, have you gone _mad_?”

Jisoo tried not to blush, but it was hard. His neck was a patchwork wonder; Seungkwan hadn’t stopped eyeballing it the next day, and it was still strong enough four days later to make Jeonghan’s eyebrows climb. Each time he touched the big mark on his neck it shivered down his spine, a reminder of the melting, hungry pleasure it had been to receive it. “It’s true,” he muttered. “He’s been kind enough to help me, but I think maybe it got too much for him, pretending like that? I mean, he looked pretty angry when he walked out the shop.”

Jeonghan gave a precisely calculated sniff. “I don’t blame him for being angry,” he muttered into his wine. “If a hot guy asked me to scent them, and then blue-balled me when I gave him what he wanted, _and_ insulted me by saying that it was because of his flower shop air then I’d be angry too. I know you’ve met some stupid alphas over the past few weeks but really?”

Jisoo grimaced and took a large slug of his wine. “It’s his fault,” he mumbled. “He was… looming. And hot. And he wants a good omega in any case, it’d never work out, I’m only a beta. I just wish I knew how to apologise. He genuinely is a good person, you know?”

“Don’t ask me,” Jeonghan sniped. “I’m only an alpha as well. You know what a mixed bag we are.”

As a way of making Jisoo feel like shit, it really overachieved. Jisoo’s head drooped. “Sorry,” he muttered. “It’s really been fucked up these last few weeks. I didn’t mean to insult him, or you.”

“And don’t insult yourself either,” Jeonghan ranted on. “If you say ‘only a beta’ one more time I’m going to throw this glass at you.”

Jisoo grimaced. Jeonghan had distressingly good aim, both emotionally and physically. “I fucked up, okay? Just… just help me think of how to apologise to him.”

Jeonghan narrowed his eyes at Jisoo. “Don’t apologise to the poor man unless you’re ready to mean it. A fake apology will hurt even more, even if we are all desperately shallow, emotionally unavailable knot-heads with a slick kink.”

“Oh my _God_ ,” Jisoo yelled. “I said I fucked up! And can you not bring knots into the conversation?”

Jeonghan polished off his glass of wine, leaning forward to pour another one. “Why not?” he asked. “If things go well, isn’t it something you’d like to get better acquainted with? Or are you gonna go on and tell me you’re not ‘biologically equipped’ to handle one?”

Blushing blood-red – there was _something_ about the thought of Cheol’s… anatomical situation – Jisoo shook his head. “Whether I can handle it or not is not the point,” he got out as calmly as he could. “I was insensitive and I should apologise. And it’s not like I’m not interested, for God’s sake. The man has an ass like a watermelon, and he’s hot as fuck, _and_ he’s nice. Of course I want to fuck him. But I also want to… you know. Sing on car trips with him. Hold his umbrella when it rains. Have lazy mornings with him.”

“You know,” Jeonghan said after a while, “It’s a pity there’s zero sexual attraction between us and I need dick. You’re so cute sometimes.” He took a sip. “The only way it’s going to work is if you man up, go over to his place and sincerely apologise. Just be… just be the gentle, _real_ Joshuji, okay? Admit that you made a mistake, and man up and ask him if he had ever considered going out with a beta. If he’s any kind of intelligent, he’ll forgive you, and _then_ you can ask him for another necklace.”

Jisoo picked up the closest bag of chips and threw it at Jeonghan.

* * *

The next day – luckily a Friday – not even the steady drip of alphas at the shop could phase him. He shuffled Seungkwan and Hansol out of the shop a little early, escaped from the last of the questing alphas and steadily made his way to the tattoo shop. There were still customers there – and Minghao giving him the evil eye – but he merely settled in the corner of the very glitzy, very uncomfortable couch they had on the far side.

“You want another piercing?” Minghao eventually asked as the shop emptied. “Or you have alpha trouble again?”

_Yep, definitely heard, and not too happy._

Jisoo took a breath and stood, hauling up the bag he had brought with. “No,” he said as calmly as he could. “Today I have stupid beta issues.” He plonked the bag down on the counter, opened it to haul out six Tsingtao and a box of macarons, and gazed at the alpha. “Is he still here? I owe him an apology. Those are for you. An apology as well. I was an ass.”

Long moments passed as Minghao looked at the bribe before he scoffed and gave one of his high giggles. “At least you have good taste in bribes, and Jun likes Tsingtao.” He tilted his head. “Show me.”

Jisoo turned his head and leant forward, showing the piercing he had kept meticulously clean. “Nothing anymore but some redness. I followed the card from last time. Just saline and water, promise.”

Minghao nodded approvingly towards the divider. “He’s back in his office. I hope you have more where the beer came from. He hasn’t been happy.”

Jisoo breathed out a sigh of relief, scooping the bag up. “Thank you.”

The bag clinked a bit as he headed to the office in the back, and his heart beat in his throat as he knocked at the door. The grunt that came from the other side didn’t sound too happy but he persevered, opening the door and pushing in.

Seungcheol’s office looked very different from his, but surprisingly clean, faintly smelling of the leather and sanitizer and disinfectant they used in the rest of the place. From his angle the alpha had what looked like an Excel spreadsheet on it… _yup_ , that was the budgeting template that Jisoo had sent him, and he looked royally pissed as he looked up. Accounting problems?

_Oh,_ Jisoo realized a half-second later. _No. It’s me._

He cleared his throat and made for the table. “I come bearing gifts,” he said as he hauled out imported German beer.

Seungcheol sat back in his chair, staring steadily. “I don’t want gifts.”

“I come bearing apologies too,” Jisoo added as calmly as he could. “And even if you don’t want the beer, I’d like to apologise. What I said… I’m an asshole, I’m really sorry.”

Considering him for a moment longer, Seungcheol finally leant to take one of the beers, popping the cap on it as he sat back. “Go on,” he muttered around a mouthful of expensive beer.

Jisoo inhaled. “I’m sorry I implied that you didn’t know what you were doing, and that your senses were weak enough you couldn’t tell what’s going on, and for putting you on the same level as those assholes that came to bother me. To be honest everyone was going on about the flower scent so much and I…”

“I don’t actually like flowers,” Seungcheol interrupted. “I’m allergic to pollen.”

Jisoo blinked, brought up short. “But…” He stared, gobsmacked, before his memory offered up the little sneezes and wrinkling of his nose that the alpha had done at his shop, all the little micro-expressions that he had taken to mean as something negative. “But… why were you even in the shop then?”

Seungcheol shrugged. “Why not? I had been taking antihistamines thanks to the seasonal change and fine dust in any case; a few flowers wouldn’t get through them. I thought you might need the help.”

“Oh my God,” Jisoo muttered. “So it was all a… you know what? Nevermind.” He squared his stance. “I owe you an apology in any case, whether you could smell me or not, and I shouldn’t have treated you like some romance novel knot-head with a slick kink.”

Seungcheol’s eyebrows slowly arched. “Are you apologizing now, or digging the hole deeper?”

“I’m sorry! God.” Jisoo grimaced as he reached to scrub at his face. “I’m really, really _sorry_. For what it’s worth, you’re the most well-adjusted, normal, _kind_ alpha I met before, and even beyond that you’re a decent guy, you’re very cute and I’m really, _really_ hoping I didn’t screw my chances. I’d like to be your friend, more than your friend, but if you don’t want to friendship is absolutely fine.”

Seungcheol gave him another steady gaze before he put the beer down and beckoned. When Jisoo walked closer, he reached to pull him closer by the loops of his belt, and stared seriously up at him. “I don’t care whether you’re an alpha, or beta, or omega,” he said softly. “I know I can look mean at times, and I look like… this, but I like people just because of themselves, not even because they’re as uber-hot as you are. I happen to have a mind beyond biological imperatives.”

“I can see that,” Jisoo whispered, enjoying the hands hooked close to his hips.

“And really, if that kind of thing bothers you, you can come and lift with me.”

Jisoo stared. “Cheol-ah, are we really talking about gym here?”

Seungcheol’s expression gentled as he stared up at him before inching him closer by his hips, dragging him onto his lap. “Of course we are,” he said with a soft huff. “I enjoy gym. But I also enjoyed holding your hand, so I hope we can do more of that, or going to the movies, or river walks, or the other things that couples do.”

Jisoo leant his forehead down to put it against Seungcheol’s. “We’re a couple?”

“Well, I’m looking forward to giving it a good try,” Seungcheol murmured. “And I’m looking forwarding to smelling you when you’re not close to flowers, not only because I want to find out but because my nose won’t explode, and I really, _really_ look forward to someday making it absolutely clear that you are off the market in every way, shape and form one might be.”

Jisoo’s ears scalded. _That_ had called up a few more images his body enthusiastically reacted to. “It’s a pity you don’t have a comfortable sofa in this place,” he said gingerly. “I don’t suppose you like waffles in the mornings, do you? I have a pretty nice waffle-maker at my place.”

Seungcheol’s smile turned from secret to radiant. “I’ll get some extra-crispy fried chicken to go with them. “And we can take the beer, right?” He paused. “Do you have a lot of flowers at your home too?”

Jisoo managed to laugh, pulling back from the desire to kiss him then and there. “No,” he grinned. “Not a single one. Much as I love the shop, it’s only a business. I even have an extra toothbrush if guests show up.”

“And… preparation stuff?” Seungcheol asked hesitantly.

Jisoo felt like snickering. “The lube isn’t flower-scented either, just plain. And we can stop somewhere for condoms.”

Seungcheol sat back, seemingly satisfied. “Well now,” he said happily. “That sounds like a good idea. You grab the beer? I’ll grab my things.”

Jisoo grinned, feeling the happiest he has in… well, ever since this whole mess started and he fucked up. “Let’s,” he said, and leant to peck a kiss on Seungcheol’s forehead.

* * *

Seungcheol took the lift at Jisoo’s side, eyeing it approvingly. The building was one of the newer ones, neat and tidy but not as uber-modern as he would have thought, tucked away in a side street with just enough space next to Jisoo’s little hatchback to park his bike.

_I wonder if his place is as fluffy and cute as he is,_ he wondered. _I’d never say it out loud, but no wonder Jisoo gets mistaken for an omega sometimes, at least when he’s this beautiful. The blonde hair and the perm don’t help his case either. I…_

His train of thought broke as they arrived and Jisoo led him down the corridor, opening his apartment door with a quick combination before waving him inside. To his surprise, not an inch of it was fluffy or cute; this interior looked like the inside of a very glam hotel, with clean lines and meticulous furnishings and the faint smell of floor polish and air freshener. It was, bar none, the cleanest bachelor pad he had ever seen, from the way the books on the kitchen counter were neatly lined up to the bowl of fruit, and he was pretty sure he could eat off the floor, it looked that sparkling.

“Hot damn,” he whistled as he kicked his shoes off, putting them in the space Jisoo pointed out. “Suddenly I’m no longer afraid of death by cuteness, I’m worried I’m not clean enough for this place.”

Jisoo coloured in that adorable way he had, just the tips of his ears turning pink. “I… don’t like mess around me when I come home and I’m tired,” he said, voice soft. “It makes me feel even more tired, like I have to clean up before I can get comfortable.” He took the chicken, pizza and beer from Seungcheol. “I’ll go and get some dishes,” he murmured. “Go sit down, we can put Netflix on. Or we can play some cards again.”

“Oh?” Seungcheol said, curiosity piqued. “You’ve not won enough won off me yet?”

“Unless you want to play Uno?” Jisoo’s voice drifted back from the open-plan kitchen. “You were saying something about poker last time, I could teach you how to play that?”

Seungcheol, master poker tournament winner, said _nothing,_ just took his jacket off and hung it in the cupboard. “Sure,” he got out after a while, making for the couch. It felt luxurious and comfortable underneath his butt, but he slipped to the floor almost immediately, putting his back against it instead as he reached to carefully clear the coffee table. It was… it felt almost comfortable really; he could take deep breaths in here and somehow Jisoo had managed ‘warm’ instead of ‘clinical’.

* * *

“Here we go,” Jisoo said, bringing the pizza and a brace of bottles. “I… why are you sitting on the ground?”

Seungcheol smiled up at him. “Wanted to feel how it felt.”

Jisoo’s expression twitched, but all he did was reach out with a socked toe to gently poke Seungcheol’s closest leg. “Sofa,” he demanded. “It’s comfy.”

Seungcheol moved back to the sofa, helped drag the table closer and made himself at home without saying a thing. Jisoo seemed a little jittery from the way he vacillated putting out plates and opening bottles; Seungcheol wondered since when he found that cute when he realised he did. He took one of the pillows, braced it in behind his back and looked quizzically at his feet. “Is it ok if I put them on the couch?”

“Yeah,” Jisoo mumbled. “I’m not that uptight.”

Saying nothing, Seungcheol tucked his feet under him, took a sip of the beer and a bite of the pizza, and watched Jisoo unbox the cards to shuffle them. “Are you sure you want to play?”

Jisoo looked at him beneath his eyelashes, grinning. “Are you sure you want to lose? Oh… hold on, I’ll go and get some disposable wipes.” He was as good as his word, scurrying up.

_I wonder how long it’s been since he’s had anyone in here but friends,_ Seungcheol wondered as he watched the beta search high and low. He felt a smile tuck into being – somehow it warmed his heart – and he waited for a disposable wipe before touching the cards. “I can shuffle if you want. Poker? That’s the game with five cards, right?”

“Something like that…” Jisoo muttered, opening a beer for himself.

Roughly an hour later Seungcheol sat with most of the chips in front of himself, but his shirt had long since come off. Jisoo had lost his pants, but his sweater still covered everything but a really, _really_ fine pair of legs that had Seungcheol’s concentration slipping every now and then. To his surprise, Jisoo had been _good_ at it, giving as good as he got.

“Three of a kind,” Seungcheol said as he laid down his hand, one he could have done much better in. “Prepare to lose your socks.”

“Full house,” Jisoo said happily, throwing down the cards and sitting back to sip at his second beer. “Prepare to lose _yours_.”

Seungcheol grinned. “We’re not playing for cash prizes any longer? Are you sure?”

Jisoo, considerably mellowed out by the beer, let his gaze dwell over Seungcheol’s shoulders, then down his torso, eyes darkening. “Yup,” he said happily, huskily. “Strip.” One hand waved vaguely at Seungcheol. “Socks, both of them, and don’t even pretend they’re two pieces of clothing, it’s a set.”

Seungcheol conceded, pulling off Mickey Mouse socks to stuff it into his sneakers, wriggling his toes obnoxiously afterwards. “Ah, freedom!” he said dramatically. He reached down, ostensibly to shove the sneakers to the side, but caught Jisoo’s slender ankles in his hands instead, hauling his legs up and onto the couch.

“Cheol!” Jisoo complained, laughing brightly, but he let him hold them even when he fell length-wise on the couch, giggling too hard to sit up straight. “What the hell are you doing?”

Seungcheol smiled, reached to tickle one slim ankle, and draped Jisoo’s feet over his lap, tossing him a pillow for his back. “ _Relax_ ,” he urged, large hands settling on his shin to rub them a little. “You stand most of the day, right? Take a load off. I can’t get comfortable if you’re not comfortable, and you have really, _really_ nice legs.”

Jisoo took the pillow and propped it behind his back, resting indolently back at it before giving him a smoky kind of look from his spot. “You know…” he said idly. “I’m much more comfortable than the couch.”

For a moment Seungcheol’s brain didn’t interpret the invitation: when it did he reached to move the beers to safety before turning and sliding forward, slowly settling himself on Jisoo. “So you are,” he said warmly, wiggling down and slipping his hips between Jisoo’s naked thighs to spread them. “And look, we even have a complete set of clothing between us, so this is very proper, right?”

Jisoo’s laughter tickled at him and he leant down to kiss it from the beta’s lips. Soft and sweet and wet, even though they both tasted of beer, he took his time this time, learning the shape of his lovely mouth before slipping a hand to support his nape. That helped him tilt the angle so that he could revisit the fading bruise on his neck, and he snickered against it as Jisoo’s heartbeat sped up against his lips. “Alright, there, _baby_?”

“Call me baby one more time,” Jisoo said grumpily, albeit hoarsely, “and I’m dicking you down, not the other way around.”

There was no response to that kind of sassiness but biting down; Seungcheol parted his lips to set his teeth to the fading bruise and bit in slightly, ignoring Jisoo’s intake of breath. He sucked until the skin felt hot, almost feverish, and leant back to admire his work, laving it slowly with his tongue. “Better,” he murmured, proud and more aroused than he should have been at the way Jisoo’s head lolled back limply. “Much better.”

Jisoo reached above his hands to catch at the couch’s arm as he arched and writhed slowly, eyes fluttering shut at the hot, wet pleasure sliding down his spine. He didn’t say anything, couldn’t think to complete words. Instead, when Seungcheol carefully nudged the first few of the cardigan’s buttons open, he sighed lustily instead, and nearly whimpered at the little bites the alpha planted along his collarbones before licking into the notch between them.

Seungcheol kissed Jisoo’s bared skin until he was warm, malleable putty in his hands before he went close to his mouth again; the other’s long, low moan as he bit into his plush lip had desire coiling hard in his gut, but he didn’t act on it. Instead he set to learning Jisoo’s mouth again, slowly escalating the kiss until their tongues slid lazily together and the beta had hands in his hair, frantically urging him closer. It felt so good to take him apart like this, Seungcheol almost didn’t notice the hands urging him back, or the quick, thudding flutter of his breathing.

“Stop,” Jisoo gasped, licking at his lips. “Can you stop for a moment? I need… shower, I need a shower, and if you need one too…”

Pouty – he had been quite happy visualising sucking Jisoo off right here – Seungcheol breathed deeply to calm himself and sat up a bit, twisting so that he could pet Jisoo’s thighs to calm himself down a little. “If you want?” he said. “Or I could take one with you if you want.”

Jisoo’s blush stretched all the way down to the exposed bits of his chest. “I… no, I need to go and clean myself. Just give me fifteen minutes, okay? I’ll be right out.” He kicked away in a twinkling of limbs and scooted into the depths of the apartment.

Groaning, Seungcheol reached down to press against the bulge in his pants, willing it down a little.

* * *

It took way longer than fifteen minutes, but Jisoo felt much more comfortable in his skin as he got rid of the day’s sweat and cleaned himself out as well as he could. Afterwards, staring into the fogged mirror, his lips hadn’t subsided yet, and his skin still buzzed when he trailed fingertips over the renewed dark mark at his throat. Flushing, he shaved quickly before cleaning the bathroom up and wrapping a towel around himself, and stepped outside to call Seungcheol.

The alpha was at his side within moments. Jisoo opened his mouth to apologise, but the apology died without words when Seungcheol reached to tug him closer by the towel, kissed his mouth and slipped past him.

Jisoo wandered out to go and put the food in the fridge, then headed to his bedroom to strip the quilt a little lower. He had barely had time to look for something to wear before the shower behind him ended and Seungcheol was there again, pressing into his back and wrapping arms around his waist, with a delicate kiss placed on the nape of his neck. Shuddering, Jisoo reached for steadiness against a shelf; the man behind him was _dangerous_ with those sneaky kisses.

“Clothes?” Seungcheol questioned. “I’m just going to take it back off in a few minutes, you know.” He leant in, pressed his towel-clad hips against Jisoo’s backside. 

Jisoo shuddered again. It really had been some time; his spine wanted to melt at the way the very obvious ridge felt against his butt through their towels, and his head drooped forward as Seungcheol dipped his head to lock his lips over the sensitive scenting gland back there. _That_ he felt all the way down to his toes, and he garbled out words at the slow, sucking feeling that came. The thought of carrying a hickey there embarrassed and aroused him; it was teasing so much at the sensitive nerves there that he almost begged for a bite there. “Cheol…” he panted. “What?”

Seungcheol’s mouth curved against Jisoo’s skin at the fucked-out tremble in his voice. He moved his hands, coasting over Jisoo’s stomach and the lithe, defined lines of muscle before he pulled him close enough to lift. It felt easy – the beta might have muscle but he really wasn’t that heavy – and he placed a kiss right in the sway of his back, just above the line of the towel.

Jisoo squealed out loud at the sudden movement and a kiss there, back arching from sudden pleasure of it. He didn’t notice being carried to the bed, only that gentle hands pulled him around and laid him on his back, and that a heavier body pressed him down. His arms and legs fell open without thought, wrapping around Seungcheol, and he reached up for the hot, lusty kisses he wanted. His hips jerked as well, and the towel barely clung as he locked his thighs high around Seungcheol’s waist, locking him in close as he hungrily ate at his mouth.

Only too happy to oblige, Seungcheol ravaged his mouth, kissed him again and again until Jisoo felt soft and pliant in his arms. He gave him a brief respite to enjoy the way his eyes had darkened, pupils huge with only a thin sliver of iris, before nipping at his swollen lower lip. “Now,” he murmured, arousal making his voice thick and low. “Are you going to let me suck you off like I wanted to out there?”

Jisoo panted to get brain function back. Choi Seungcheol kissed like he wanted to know your whole life history, and he felt so overwhelmed he let out a low, ragged moan as one thumb came up to delicately tickle at one of his nipples, then press and massage it. “…what?” he managed to get out, voice thick.

“I want to suck you off,” Seungcheol repeated slowly, happily as he watched Jisoo writhe from that small touch. “It’ll get you off enough so I can take my time with you later.” He paused. “How long has it been?”

Swallowing, Jisoo tried to think. “Eight… eight months?” he finally said shyly. “Around there. And yes. _Please._ ”

Seungcheol kissed his pouty mouth in thanks and reached behind to unlock Jisoo’s legs from his waist before sitting up. He reached to unfold the last of the towel, hissing for a moment in sheer admiration at the beta’s beauty: he was tall and more muscled than the button-downs had made it seem, with a flat delineated stomach and strong V-line; that and the most beautiful cock he had seen on a man. Not too short, certainly above average, but flushed such a pretty, glistening pink his mouth watered.

“Wow,” he got out, deeply impressed, leaning to kiss a line down Jisoo’s front. He buried another ‘Wow’ in his belly-button, licking it to make the beta giggle. “You are legit way hotter than any model I’ve seen.”

Jisoo almost hyperventilated to stay calm; the sight of Cheol’s kiss-stung red lips so close to his cock made his mouth water. “Shut up, don’t be so damn perfect,” he managed to get out, fingers straining in the quilt at his sides.

It was enough to make Seungcheol laugh low and soft into the fold between Jisoo’s taut belly and his leg. He breathed out there to sensitise the skin and lap at it, then inhaled deeply to catch a hint of the beta’s faint, clean scent. “Baby,” he muttered, lapping at the skin again. “I’m nowhere _near_ perfect.” Leaning in further, he didn’t give Jisoo time to scold. Instead, he bared his teeth and nipped at the soft, sensitive flesh he had licked, right into the deepest dip where it’d remain for days to tease the man beneath him.

Shouting at the sudden sting of pleasure-pain, Jisoo couldn’t scold him for calling him ‘baby’ again; his hands flew to Cheol’s hair and sunk in to keep his head there, encourage him as long as he could to heighten the crazy pleasure. He didn’t even take notice of the hand moving to wrap around his cock, just jolted when he felt the sting lessen and hot, wet heat surround the head.

Cheol didn’t have mercy; Jisoo’s cock tasted as perfect and clean as the rest of him, and he wanted to get him off quickly so he could play more. Not that it’d take long, when he pushed his tongue into the little slit on the fat head he could already taste precum, and he flicked his tongue down and around, teasing at the sensitive ridge below. He had always loved giving head and Jisoo’s cock was perfect for it, fitting nicely into his mouth without straining it too painfully. Humming in pleasure, he took a tight grip and went to work, intent on pushing him over the edge as quickly as possible.

It wasn’t something Jisoo had ever experienced before, the crazy, too-much-too-fast slide into abrupt pleasure. He couldn’t find stability beyond the hair he wound around his fingers, and he had to fight not to yank too hard. He tried to close his thighs for surcease but Cheol’s one large hand pressed them right back open, flat onto the bed, and his thumb stroked gently over the mark he had made as he jerked him off roughly and quickly. Jisoo’s world crashed; within minutes he was so close to climax stars danced in front of his eyes as he fought not to cry.

It didn’t help. He came embarrassingly quickly, lured over the edge by the hot, wet warmth; everything south of his waist seemed under Cheol’s control rather than his own, and he wasn’t even allowed to pull away. Instead he came right on his tongue, felt rather than saw him swallow, and crashed back on the bed in a boneless, messy heap.

Seungcheol smirked, popped his mouth off Jisoo’s cock and crept back up the flushed length of body. Jisoo seemed so far gone it was easy to kiss the slack mouth again, slipping his tongue inside to share the salty-sweet taste of his come with him. “Better, baby,” he muttered as Jisoo arched and whined, not yet speaking, and took advantage of the moment of sit back, take his towel off and roll Jisoo over onto his back.

Jisoo didn’t complain, too lost in the pleasure still stinging in his body. He felt the towel get pulled out underneath his hips, felt large broad palms massage at the dip of his back, and drooped his head forward into his arms as he tried to get his breathing to recover. It was _difficult_ , especially when Cheol returned to nip at the bruise he had sucked over the scenting gland in his neck, and he gave a bone-deep shiver when he felt a long, thick cock tuck against his butt; Cheol’s hands pulled him slightly open to rest fat and thick between his butt cheeks, surprising a needy, tired moan from him. “Cheol,” he got out, voice low with pleasure. “Mm, yes, _please._ ”

“Not yet,” Seungcheol whispered into the shell of his ear, avoiding the piercing with exquisite care. “Just enjoy it, baby, let me make you feel great, alright?”

Jisoo swallowed. Even the ‘baby’ didn’t irritate him anymore, not when he felt as loose-limbed and fantastic as he did now. Instead of complaining, he merely lifted his hips a little to work at the thick length between his cheeks, then drooped forward agreeably. “Okay.”

Light, tender kisses turned into deeper ones, scattered down the length of his spine and high on his sides; Seungcheol didn’t leave a part of him without a little peck, not even his arms, and by the time he set his hands on Jisoo’s waist and hauled him up onto his knees, the clamour in Jisoo’s body had died down nicely, leaving him absolutely relaxed. He mumbled praises as Seungcheol gently worshipped his butt with his mouth and hands, strong fingers biting into the muscle hard enough to make him give little sighs of pleasure, and he felt confident and _beautiful_ when he finally felt a stripe of wetness being licked over his small, tightly-furled entrance.

“You’re so pretty here,” Seungcheol assured him, thumbs spreading his cheeks wide open. “Just as pink and perfect as the rest of you.” One little lick, then two, before the gentle press of teeth and tongue right there made Jisoo squeal out loud. His hips tried to buck, but the hands held him firmly enough to deny movement. Slowly, as Seungcheol started to eat him out his cock started stiffening again, not only from the licks but the kisses and nips down his perineum and the hot, wet tongue laving over his balls.

Seungcheol took his time to eat Jisoo out, ignoring the whimpering, shaking mess the beta turned into. There really was no slick to make things easy, so he did it properly, tongue-fucking him open slowly and easily. He had to break off a moment to ask for lube, but moments later he was back at it again, enjoying the slow, intimate process of turning Hong Jisoo inside-out with sheer pleasure.

Jisoo shouted as Cheol started to work him open. His head spun and his hips canted up without thought, trying to press closer to the slow, insane pleasure. He didn’t hear the lube cap get popped open but felt it moments late, spread onto his rim by Seungcheol’s large thumb before it pressed in slightly, coaxing it open just enough for his tongue to dive in even deeper.

Between the lube and saliva, Seungcheol worked Jisoo into a hot, wet mess, smirking at the loud, sticky sounds it caused. Eyeing the pink, winking little entrance afterwards, he slowly slipped a finger inside, pushing it smoothly forward and ignoring the tight clench as he bottomed out to his last knuckle. “It really has been a long time for you, baby, hasn’t it? You’re so damned tight, I’m going to have to be so careful…”

“Please!” Jisoo shouted, arousal hot and tight in his belly again. “Please, please, give me another finger please!”

Seungcheol ignored the begging, slowly finger-fucking him with one until the clench wasn’t quite so tight, pressing wet, sticky kisses into one cheek. “Hush, baby, I don’t want to hurt you. Take it like my good, sweet baby, alright?” Slowly, so very slowly he worked him open enough for a second finger, groaning into his plush flesh at the hitched moans Jisoo let out.

Another finger; the third spread him open enough that Jisoo gave a slow grunt at the tightness. He pressed his eyes shut, unwilling to cry from the incredible, perfect job the alpha was doing. Instead, chest pressed against the mattress so the quilt dragged gently at his nipples, he whined and moaned and sobbed from the intense stretch, giving the occasional loud shout as a finger glanced perfectly over his prostate.

“There,” Seungcheol whispered into Jisoo’s flesh as he finally opened him wide enough; one thumb hooked into his rim to pull him open wider to slip the smooth nozzle of the lube inside, and holding him steady at the whimpers that received. “So beautiful, god, I’m so hard right now, I’m so, _so_ eager to slip into you baby. You wouldn’t mind, right? You’re ready for me finally?”

“Stop fucking talking me hotter!” Jisoo shouted, pushed beyond his limits. “Give me your fucking cock already!”

All it did was inspire a giggle and a savage bite into one side of Jisoo’s butt. “Patience,” Seungcheol whispered, reaching down to coat his cock in lube as well. He was so ready, had been so hot all along, that even the touch of the fat head against Jisoo’s rim had him stilling and praying; he grit his teeth with all the self-control he had as he slowly slipped his cock inside, tucking into the tight, _tight_ clasp inside Jisoo.

Jisoo scrabbled at the quilt as his head drooped forward and his waist tensed up. Even with all the preparation Cheol was thick and long enough to stretch him beyond what he had thought was possible. He grit his teeth together at the pleasure-pain of it, gloried in the long slow stretch, and finally panted when he felt flesh against his butt, together with hands continually rubbing over his back and butt, trying to ease the stretch. “Fuck,” he got out. Cheol was such a presence in him he didn’t feel guilty about the cursing. Instead, wiggling back just to make sure he had taken everything, he swallowed and did it gain. “ _Fuck_. Just… just hold still a little.”

“Sure thing,” Seungcheol said easily; it was best not to move or he’d spill too early, so he concentrated on turning his lover into jelly again, thumbs digging into the long muscles of his back and low in his spine. Reaching for the discarded towel, he snuck it in under Jisoo’s hips, taking a moment to stroke his pretty cock, and prayed for patience. He hadn’t felt such tightness in ages; hell, it felt as if Jisoo could permanently ruin him if he felt like this.

Jisoo’s ragged breathing slowly calmed before he nodded to Seungcheol. When he felt arms settle next to his neck and a broad chest on his back, he whimpered again, reaching to grab onto strong, thick wrists as his neck was assailed again. He felt slow movements: one slow surge outwards that nearly emptied him, then a snapping of hips back, driving the fat cock back into him. Again, _again_ , until the slow, rutting surges settled into a deep rhythm and he felt Cheol suck on his earlobes, his neck, his shoulders at the same pace. It was so perfect he felt tears gather in the corner of his eyes, and wondered why he had been so stubborn previously.

_Fuck,_ Jisoo’s thoughts sped. _Fuck,_ fuck, _I could have been having this all along. How is he so damned perfect?_

Seungcheol settled into the rhythm of loving Jisoo slow and deep, one arm slipping to haul his belly closer so that he could cover him hips to shoulders; he used the power in his thighs to spread Jisoo a little and sink into him as deep as he could, giving slow, pounding strokes that had the beta beneath him quivering and whimpering like a lost animal. He loved it like that, _loved_ turning his partner inside-out so much that they didn’t know the difference between up and down. He loved the slick, squelching sounds of it, the tight heat that bit at his cock, the way Jisoo trembled submissively under him in a way he likely never would outside of bed.

Jisoo felt like dying; he couldn’t quite see straight past the tears in his eyes so he was forced to feel, begging into the quilt as Cheol fucked him so slowly and deeply. Each slide of the hot, thick bar into him rammed home against a spot deep inside him that ached pleasurably, each move out had the fat head gliding over his prostate until his ass clamped and sucked hungrily, desperate to have it back inside. Faster, _faster_ ; he was so weighed-down by Cheol’s mass that he couldn’t flop and flail as his body would have. Instead he fought to press back into Cheol’s hold, turning his head for hot, wet, wild kisses.

Seungcheol felt the tightening in his gut slowly ramp up; Jisoo had long since come a second time into the towel, turning into a moaning, crying mess; instead of letting him up he reached a hand down to press on his hips, hold him still for the great ramming fucks into him as his hips sped up. Pistoning into the beta felt so good, so tight and hot, that he almost missed the sudden, gut-wrenching flare at the base of his cock. For a moment it shocked him – he rarely popped a knot outside his rut period – but the man in his arms was so intoxicating it wasn’t strange either. Instead, unwilling to hurt him, he slowed down a little, just enough to work the knot into him with some finesse.

Lights exploded behind Jisoo’s eyes again as he felt something even thicker press against his aching, stretched hole. Theoretically he knew what it was, but the feeling of it pressing into him, forcing him open even wider, made him shiver and moan and beg despite the biting pleasure of it. This time he wasn’t ashamed of crying from the terrible pleasure of it as the large knot finally popped inside him; instead, feeling it settle into a slow press into his prostate and the rough little grinds Cheol gave him, he came again, falling so far and so free he almost passed out.

Working the knot inside in little rutting surges, Seungcheol gyrated his hips against Jisoo, growling at the frantic, repetitive clenches against the super-sensitive knot. He inhaled messily at his nape, lips sealed on the sensitive glands again, and he had to fight not to bite down as he felt his lover’s third, weaker climax beneath him. Part-sorry, part-proud, he pressed him flat into the bed with little humping motions, shuddering as his own climax came.

It took long moments for Jisoo’s thoughts to clear up enough to feel the hot, jets of come surging into him, but when he felt the heat soak into his insides he gave a loud, panting whine, arching his hips up hungrily for more.

“Shhh, baby,” Seungcheol muttered against his neck, hands holding him very still. “Shh, don’t move too much, it’ll take some time still.”

Jisoo had thought he was relaxed before, but it was nothing to the feeling he had now, weighed down and spread wide by Cheol’s knot, feeling himself being filled up. He relaxed in little stages, eventually slumping down on the bed, and offered his neck for more wet kisses.

“I love that I can do this to you and not worry about anything,” Seungcheol muttered softly. “You’re being so good baby, you’re taking this so well. I’m so happy you’re letting me fill you up so much.” He slowly circled his hips, just to let Jisoo feel the still-hard, still-cumming cock deep inside him. “Hush baby… it’s so perfect inside you, don’t cry, ok?”

Jisoo felt so well-fucked, so loved he couldn’t do anything but cry and lay there limply as his alpha filled him up with slow, rutting surges. “I love it,” he managed to gasp out through the tears. “I love how hot it feels. Is there… how long can you go on?”

Seungcheol laughed softly into his ear and reached down to pet at the super-stretched rim, tickling it into tightening up more against his knot. “Are you in the mood to leave so quickly?” he asked, slipping the hand back below Jisoo’s waist to cup his palm low over his belly. “You’re going to be here for at least another half-hour, it’s been some time since I did this too.”

The thought of how well-filled he would be after a half-hour made Jisoo whimper, eyes drooping shut. For the first time in a long while he felt absolutely safe; not made into less, just loved into another shape, one that could accept that the man so deep inside him might appreciate him just as he is. “Stay,” he muttered tiredly. “Please.”

“You got it,” Seungcheol muttered, moving to roll them more comfortable on their sides; he took it slow when Jisoo moaned anew at the pull on his entrance, but eventually settled themselves with their heads on a pillow and the light top quilt over them. Moving on instinct, he pulled Jisoo close and curved their bodies together again, hips slowly rocking as he continued shooting into him. “Sleep,” he whispered, and kissed his sweaty temple. “Sleep a bit, okay? I’ll wake you up when it’s over.”

“Wake me up tomorrow morning,” Jisoo said tiredly, eyes drooping from pleasure and lassitude and fatigue. “Keep your cock in me.”

Huffing a laugh, Seungcheol muttered a promise to do just that, and closed his eyes as well.

* * *

Jisoo woke by increments, thanking his lucky stars he had automatic curtains. It was dark in the room but felt later than normal, and he spent a few moments to let his thoughts catch up. Memories of the night before intruded like a trickle of thick honey, and his blush flamed so fast his ears felt as if they burned from it.

_I was so shameless last night, dear God, what must… oh._

No, not just last night. He had been woken up in the middle of the night for a quick, merciless fuck as well; Seungcheol had been absolutely wild that time, nearly breaking his ass as he took him without mercy. Jisoo shivered at the sense-memory that evoked, shivering as his ass clenched but couldn’t; Seungcheol still had his cock tightly sealing him shut as he had asked. Rather than disgusted, it made the sudden tension in his bones disappear and he sunk back into the well-fucked, limp puddle he had been.

There was a hand toying with one of his nipples when he woke up again, slowly punishing the little nub until it stood desperately high for attention, and the other prickled for equal attention. “Hey,” he managed to grate out, trying to ignore the singing pleasure slowly pooling in him again. “Haven’t you had enough?”

“Haven’t you?” Seungcheol muttered behind him, voice impossibly deep from sleep. “You’re the one that cock-warmed me so snugly and rutted his hips back so sweetly that I woke up only to find him asleep.”

Jisoo swallowed at the dirty, lewd words, but couldn’t find it in him to feel ashamed. He felt _fabulous_ , even as weary as he was, especially with the way Seungcheol’s hand slipped to pull him even closer, then settle to massage his fully belly. Deep inside him something stirred, fat cock-head kissing wetly into him, surrounded by so much cum he wanted to whimper and beg again. It wasn’t a feeling he had ever had before, but he understood why Hannie was so wild about knotting himself, even though he was an alpha himself.

“I don’t know,” he managed to get out. “I think I would have won that last hand of poker if you didn’t pounce, so technically this is just me claiming my winnings.”

That made Seungcheol laugh into his neck and hold him very close. “I had a thought,” he suggested, voice warming up a little. “Of how to keep the others away when I’m not there to growl at them.”

Jisoo shivered with impotent little shivers. “Do tell,” he muttered, mind hazily considering whether his body could survive a morning quicky.

Seungcheol trailed fingertips up and down his front, then settle to slowly pumping Jisoo’s cock. “Let’s do this the whole day,” he murmured into the almost-claim he had left on Jisoo’s neck, tongue-tip laving the hot sweet flesh. “Come Monday morning, you’ll smell like me inside and out.”

Jisoo fought to think. He _definitely_ wanted that, but… “You’re going to break me,” he said reluctantly. “Why don’t you… do that thing and find another use for all the cum inside me? You could… rub it on me and if it soaks in well, it’ll stay even through a shower, right? Plus, I might even be able to walk… oh!” He shivered as Cheol’s cock twitched inside him, stiffening back up to full hardness. “Oh wow. You like that idea huh?”

“You have _no idea_ how much I like that,” Seungcheol said, rolling him back onto his front to grind against his hips again. “But you’re tall, baby, I’m going to need a lot to cover you head to toe.” One kiss, then another against his neck. “Hold still for me, okay? I don’t want your pretty ass hurting too much after this…”

Jisoo gave in and buried his smile into his pillows, spreading his legs wide as he clenched down on Cheol’s cock to encourage him. He might feel like breaking later, but there was no chance of him saying no thanks to his sweet, randy alpha.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * Yoon Jeonghan is an alpha as well, and has a very successful time as a radio host. 
>   * Boo Seungkwan is a pillow princess and an omega. 
>   * Chwe Hansol is an alpha, and looks unapproachable because most of the time he's just pre-planning how to deal with Seungkwan. 
>   * Xu Minghao is an alpha that loves sweet things. 
>   * Wen Junhui is his mate, is into beer and has at least a full sleeve tattoo somewhere. 
> 



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because ... apparently people wanted more Cheolsoo fluff?

“What the _fuck_ is that thing below your chin,” Seungkwan asked as Jisoo made his way into the flower shop like a spavined horse.

Jisoo, who had been subsisting on two painkillers and really strong coffee, tried to pin his eyes open enough to glare at his employee. “It’s a hickey,” he muttered as he wandered past the counter into the depths of the shop. “I know you know what they are.”

Seungkwan turned to watch him go, putting his hands on his hips. “That was a trick question,” he said impishly. “The answer was your neck. I don’t have to ask what you’ve been doing this whole weekend, hm?”

Jisoo coloured at the reminder. He had suggested things to Cheol that first morning and they had done them, and then other things, and this morning he felt the pain of that: his waist felt extremely weak, he couldn’t sit down to save his life, and if he no longer had a scent it’s because Cheol’s woodsy, complicated scent covered him like honey.

Seungkwan wandered closer, hands fussing with his little flower apron, and his expression gentled. “You look a bit… hold on.” Turning on his heel, he made for his phone, texting someone.

About a half-hour later – Jisoo had just got through checking the morning flowers and finishing the last of the ghastly strong coffee, Hansol wandered into the shop, dropped kisses on Seungkwan’s face like a garland of stars, and offered him a large bag.

_God, how can they be so obnoxious early in the morning, it’s disgusting,_ Jisoo opined, both wishing eternal hellfire on them for being so loudly affectionate and loving them hopelessly. He didn’t comment much – even his jaw ached from trying to suck Cheol off – and went to tend to the office instead, looking up when Seungkwan bounced in with stars in his eyes.

“Here,” the omega said, digging into the bag. “I had Hansollie go and get my normal brand of pills from the pharmacy, they’re a bit stronger than normal.” The pills went on the desk next to Jisoo’s empty cup before a weirdly-shaped foam pillow got hauled out as well. “I swear by these pillows when I’ve got a sore ass. They’re for relieving lower back pressure but also other pressure if you get my drift. Honestly though, if I were you, I’d eat a muffin or something, take the pills and catch a nap on your couch. They take some time to kick in and you’re gonna want to be able to sit today.”

Jisoo didn’t know whether to cry from embarrassment or sheer love; he raked the pills closer, grabbed a bottle of water and swallowed them directly.

“Don’t do that!” Seungkwan fussed. “You should never drink pills like that! Always with a little food, okay?” He clicked his tongue. “Sheesh.”

“Seungkwan,” Jisoo grated out. “I goddamn love you.”

Seungkwan paused his scolding at that, a pleased flush appearing on his cheeks. “Just lie down here where it’s nice and cosy,” he urged. “I can mind the shop for a few hours. Trust me, on an empty stomach those are going to hit you like a truck.”

Jisoo was too tired and sore to argue that. He worried down a piece of muffin that Seungkwan produced, stood and went to lie on the couch, saying nothing when his employee tutted and pulled the fleecy blanket down from the back, gently tucking him in. He dialled the lights down too, for which Jisoo blessed him wordlessly again, and pulled the door shut to let him sleep.

Jisoo rested his head on his pillow, winced when he wiggled to settle in, and closed his eyes. Despite the rocky start, despite all the obnoxious alphas spilling into his shop, last weekend made his heart feel warm. Cheol had been funny and loving and kind, taking care of every part of him that hadn’t truly believed in relationships before. The hard jagged edges from ‘just for sex’ hook-ups, the jealousy over his friends’ happy romantic lives, even the nagging little feeling that as a beta, he was somehow third-class, the evolutionary by-product of a system that should only have had alphas and omegas. He had thought he had been happy, but apparently not.

Cheol had loved that straight out of him. Between rounds of admittedly fabulous sex they had talked about anything and everything. Jisoo hadn’t even known that Cheol had his medical degree and could be a practising doctor; his alpha had laughed over how hard his parents had scolded until they saw the income from a legal tattoo shop. They had discussed the tropes related to sub-genders, who their favourite baseball team was, and the merits of imported over local beer.

Hell, he had let the man eat chicken and waffles in his bed; even if Cheol had dusted out all the crumbs later on, that had still been a huge step for him. If he hadn’t been that mellow from being constantly sexed up, Jisoo didn’t doubt he’d not have allowed that yet.

The memory of the sex rushed through his body like hot water, flushing all of the tender swollen parts of him, recalling the marks scattered like grains of sand over his skin. Cheol had done everything but mark him, and he had been patient and soothing and that special brand of soft fierce throughout it. His neck still stung, a visceral reminder that he was no longer alone, even if he wasn’t mated yet.

Jisoo’s thoughts drifted off to sleep like that as the pills kicked in, buoyed gently to dreamland on memories of Cheol.

* * *

Jisoo didn’t know how many hours had passed when he woke up, but he felt tons better. He sat up, scrubbed at his face and grimaced; standing, he turned to fold the blanket neatly again before wandering out to the shop proper. The afternoon light slanted through the clean windows as he did so, momentarily dazzling him. When the dazzle cleared, Hansol stood there with a mug of tea in his hands, looking surprised.

“Seungkwan asked me to wake you up,” he said softly. “He said it’s been too long for you without a meal, and I think he has some supplements he wants you to take as well.”

Jisoo looked at the mug with a lopsided smile, took it and sipped. It tasted… well, it tasted like someone had boiled leaves with honey, but he knew better by now than to mock Seungkwan’s idea of homeopathic remedies. “He does realise he doesn’t have to mother us like this, right? That we’re not actually kids with boo-boos?”

Hansol’s smile lurked into being. “It’s cute,” he mumbled. “Drives me up the wall sometimes but it’s cute. He’s cute.”

_Hopeless,_ Jisoo thought happily. _He’s a hopeless case when it comes to Boo Seungkwan._ “Perhaps I should talk to him a little more, get some tips for pleasing an alpha,” he teased.

Hansol’s gaze drooped down to Jisoo’s neck, eyebrows arching a little. “I think you already know how,” he mumbled. “But from an alpha’s point of view, I think we’re the least complex creatures in the world? Just be normal, and forgive us when we fumble around doing things to please our partners. It’ll be clumsy at times, but we mean well.”

Jisoo sipped again, rueful. _Most of the time I think he’s drifting in a cloud, and then he says things like this._

Hansol continued, unaware of his words’ impact on Jisoo. “Seungcheol-ssi came around whilst you were asleep, but when Seungkwan scolded him a little for your condition, he said we should let you sleep,” he shared. “And it wasn’t bad scolding,” he said as Jisoo’s eyebrows lifted with alarm. “It was more just gently poking at him and giving him a list of your preferences and things.” His smile broadened, turning fey. “Seungcheol-ssi was happy about that part.”

“You two,” Jisoo gargled out, shocked. “You two are menaces. You’re my employees! I’m supposed to manage you, not the other way around!”

“Well, yes,” said Hansol with an unconcerned stare. “But then again no. I’m just waiting for Seungkwan to come back from the bakery so I can go and make deliveries, I can watch things if you want to go and say hello at the tattoo shop. Oh… and can you see if they have a price list or something? I’ve been thinking of getting a tattoo, and some more piercings.”

Jisoo sighed and threw in the towel. “Sure,” he mumbled. “I’ll ask them to post it to the group chat. Thanks, Hansol-ah.”

Receiving another wave and a thumbs-up, Jisoo made his way out into the late afternoon sunshine, pausing outside the shop to stretch and pop his back. There were – for once – no alphas (or even people) of any kind hanging around outside it, and he enjoyed the slow walk to the tattoo parlour. There were a couple of people in there clogging the counter, but a tall Chinese man with an impressive sleeve of tattoos threw open the counter for him without even asking, and pointed him in the direction of Seungcheol’s office.

He found him working on what looked like the budget template again and paused to lean against the lintel, smiling helplessly. Cheol looked odd in his clothes, not exactly his normal look, but it also softened him, made him look a lot more approachable. As much as Jisoo liked leather-and-silk Cheol, he liked the way his button-up and t-shirt strained over his shoulders as well. “Hello,” he said softly, and his smile broadened as his alpha looked up. “You look busy. Am I interrupting?”

“Jisoo!” Seungcheol sounded glad, eyes squinting a bit with a pretty eye-smile. “No, not you, come on in…” He stood and moved to take Jisoo’s hand, pulling him in before shutting the door. “Sorry, I didn’t realise you were standing there.”

“That’s because I smell so much like you,” Jisoo teased, tangling their fingers together.

Seungcheol’s smile turned intimate and proud at that, and he leaned to peck a kiss on Jisoo’s lips before dipping to pick him up and carry him back to the leather sofa.

Jisoo swallowed and clung to his alpha’s neck, sighing when it turned out to be not-painful-at-all to sit on his lap, and drooped sideways to tuck his face into Cheol’s neck. “Hey,” he whispered. “I’m sorry I wasn’t awake when you visited earlier. I hear that Seungkwan kind of went off on you a little.”

“I’m happy he did, baby,” Seungcheol said, and turned to kiss Jisoo’s temple when the beta grunted fussily at the endearment. “I think we need to have a talk about limits and about you not being so effortlessly sexy. I was very worried, okay? I thought I had broken my second-favourite part of you.”

Jisoo scoffed at that. “God, what a line. I’m fine, I promise. And don’t call me baby. That’s… that’s…”

Seungcheol laughed softly. “That’s for when we’re in bed?” he teased, and kissed the blush that flamed over Jisoo’s cheeks. “I got some things from the pharmacy that Seungkwanie suggested. I thought maybe you’d like to come over to my place tonight, at least so that I change, and we can just cuddle on the couch and watch a game or something? Or Netflix. I wanted to take you out, but maybe another day?” He paused. “By the way, do you know who Cheonsa is? Seungkwanie added him to the group chat today, and he’s been asking a lot of questions.”

On the verge of arguing that he didn’t need to be treated like porcelain, Jisoo froze as Seungcheol dropped a verbal bomb. “He did?” he hissed. “Fuck, I haven’t checked my phone, he’s probably naming our kids by now.” He huffed at Cheol’s eyebrows arching. “I… Cheonsa is my best friend. Yoon Jeonghan. His birthday is on October fourth and he genuinely looks like an angel, but he’s not. He’s an alpha but definitely in one hundred percent of the ways we are only friends. Like brothers. He’s my brother from another mother, I guess you could say?”

Seungcheol’s body relaxed in increments and he breathed out. “Okay. That… kinda explains the devil emojis when he threatened me into taking care of you.” He pouts. “Not that I need to be threatened to do that! I want to.”

Jisoo’s heart melted a little more as he reached up to ghost one thumb along the pouty lip. “You can take care of me tonight. Netflix sounds awesome. I can bring some wine and popcorn? Or beer if you prefer. Also, Hansol was wondering whether you guys have a price list? I’m pretty sure Seungkwanie wants to tattoo ‘Property of Boo Seungkwan’ somewhere on his butt.”

Sinking back into the couch, Seungcheol chuckled. “This is a trap, right? I don’t talk about others’ butts when I have a boyfriend.”

That made Jisoo laugh out loud. “Nicely put, but I don’t mind. Besides, it’s sort of an in-joke – Hansolie is a massive butt man, and I’m sure you’ve seen what Seungkwan is packing in his trunk. If anything, the tattoo would have been the other way around except Hansolie would growl at whoever was tattooing Seungkwan for touching his butt.”

“I prefer yours,” Cheol said lazily, running his hands down Jisoo’s sides to touch in the sway of his back. “I also did a number on your neck, I’m _really_ sorry.”

Jisoo frowned slightly, piqued by that, until his thoughts caught up. “I’m not,” he said baldly. “I don’t mind people knowing I have you in my life.”

Seungcheol leant to kiss him at that. “You’re a certified marvel.”

* * *

The rest of the day passed in Jisoo replying to Jeonghan’s texts, video-calling him and getting the lecture over. The rest of the time was spent on salacious questions, which he refused to answer, and also refused an invitation for a ‘chat’ that night, which made Jeonghan pout and Jisoo feel relieved. He knew the look and feel of a patented Cheonsa grilling session by now.

Instead, detouring to his apartment to get a few things and his toothbrush – just in case, but he _hoped_ – he made his way to the address in Cheol’s text. It was in an older area but nice still, the building looked in good repair and the lift the same. Wandering down the corridor, he rung the doorbell and waited, eyes widening as the alpha opened the door.

Dressed in a simple sleeveless workout top and sweatpants, Seungcheol looked absolutely gorgeous and radiant, making Jisoo’s heart skip a beat as the alpha tugged him inside, taking a bag from his hands.

“Come on in!” Seungcheol said happily. “Make yourself at home. I tried to clean quickly when I came back from the gym, so I have to take a shower quickly if you don’t mind, but the place should be up to your standards now. You can just kick off your shoes there, I’ll just be upstairs quickly, okay?”

Still a trifle dazed from the sight of Seungcheol’s butt in sweatpants – how many squats did he _do?_ – Jisoo nodded. “Okay… thank you.”

He browsed around the apartment as Seungcheol hopped into the bathroom. It was a little smaller than his but way more exquisitely decorated than he had thought. Definitely warmer, with squishy pillows and warm fabrics and a lot of natural light, but neat too and not feminine at all. Hell, there were even living plants, which spoke of some level of care most of his friends had never managed. There was a whole second level that he didn’t go and look at, but Seungcheol had fit word to deed, returning with damp hair and another, floppier outfit.

_He looks adorable,_ Jisoo thought privately, and decided to push his luck a little. “Can I go and take a shower as well?” he asked.

“Sure!” his alpha said happily. “Upstairs, towards the right. I put down extra towels for you.”

Shower-time wasn’t strictly fun, not with the residual soreness he had, but Jisoo promised himself two of Seungkwan’s pills later if he could take them with wine. With that done and a towel around his neck to catch drips, he snuck into Seungcheol’s bedroom and rifled through his closet, pulling out a fuzzy, faded SNU sweatshirt that smelled of alpha and laundry detergent, pulling it over his head in lieu of a shirt. With that and his pair of pyjama pants and socks, he trotted back downstairs.

Seungcheol peeked from the kitchen. “The takeout will be here soon, I just got us comfort… food…” He trailed off as he spotted Jisoo, eyes darkening.

Jisoo’s smile teased back. “I thought you wouldn’t mind,” he said airily. “Remember to dry your hair.”

Minutes later, with soul food on the table in front of them and some wine poured, Jisoo sat curled into Seungcheol’s side, happily arguing over the dramas available on Netflix. They finally settled on something action-orientated, and he fell to eating to let the peace of the evening soak into him despite all the guns and screeching tyres and loud dialogue. He ate until he felt the food coma hit him; he hadn’t been able to take the pills with the wine but still felt way better than average.

He felt so good, in fact, that he didn’t mind when Cheol picked him up onto his lap. Instead, he sprawled his legs off to the side, tucked himself into sturdy, strongly-muscled arms and concentrated on digestion. His eyelids were already half-mast when he heard a question in the intermission between episodes. “Huh?” he asked, confused. “Sorry, what was that?”

“I said I got something for aches earlier, would you mind if I put it on you?” Seungcheol repeated, hands warm on his back and legs. “It’s safe, the pharmacist gave it to me?”

Jisoo felt too lazy-sleepy-full to offer much argument; instead, with a mumble of agreement he lay limply for Cheol to arrange as he saw fit. Even when he ended up stretched over his lap with feet one side and tummy pressed into muscled thighs all he felt like doing was rake a pillow closer so he could prop his head up on it and continue watching.

Fingers raked up the back of the sweatshirt so that one large palm settled in the dip of Jisoo’s back; Seungcheol wiggled for a moment before he liberated the tube that had been in his pocket. Applying some of the salve where his hand had rested, he shushed Jisoo’s fussy squirms at the cool feeling before settling to massage it into his skin. He knew it would heat soon and bit his lip; the pharmacist had said it was safe or all uses, and that the topical ointment had a little bit of a painkiller in it to create a numbing, warming heat. “Shh,” he said as the next episode started. “Just keep on watching.”

Jisoo really wasn’t in a position to do anything else. Cheol had magic hands, firm and large, and it felt as if something in his lower back trembled and unknotted as the heat started to sink into his sore muscles and bones. Mostly asleep, he watched as a chase scene developed, occasionally mumbling his praise as strong fingers found another sore spot. He was so relaxed that he didn’t even notice his pants being hitched down in the back, just offered a vague mumble.

Biting his lip, Seungcheol stared down at the pert, leanly muscled butt of his lover. The skin there was so pale and petal-soft that the bruises and bites stood out acutely. Half of him felt terrible for leaving him in such a state, but deep inside him something thrilled to see the marks of his possession strewn over his lover’s skin. He palmed the cheeks, patted them softly with the remaining coating of salve on his fingers before he put some more on his thumb and slowly pulled Jisoo’s cheeks apart.

“Oh baby,” he muttered, feeling terrible. His lover’s tiny entrance was still very red and a little puffy and swollen. Even now he couldn’t believe it had stretched as it had, and he leant forward to pay special attention to it. Very delicately, as if working with porcelain, he rubbed the salve into the soft rim, gently coaxing it in. Jisoo garbled something under his breath, eyes fluttering shut as he looked, but he kept on caressing it slowly, petting and playing.

Jisoo’s mind floated somewhere that he had never reached before. It wasn’t quite sexual, though it felt as if it trembled on the edge; instead it felt _intimate_. He had never had a lover that had made him feel so pampered and cared-for. The salve didn’t sting going on, and little-by-little the bone-deep aching pain there disappeared, turning into the same kind of heated warmth his lower back had. He couldn’t rut against the fingers, not that he wanted, and so only clenched his fingers into Cheol’s sweater as the large, buff fingers took care of him.

It took a very long time for Seungcheol to feel comfortable with gently easing a finger into Jisoo’s tight heat and he didn’t take it too far, only on finger to deposit some of the salve inside where his knot had stretched him the widest. Even his prostate received the most delicate circling pats until he removed his hand again, slowly pulling the sweatpants up over his lover’s butt. “Sleep,” he whispered to the beta, gently massaging his back again. “Sleep, baby, I’ll get you to bed.”

Jisoo did as he was told, floating off into sugar candy dreams feeling absolutely safe.

* * *

“God,” Jeonghan opined a week later when they finally had their meet-up. “You look disgusting. I don’t know how you dare to keep this kind of sexed glow for an entire week, not when I _know_ he’s out of town and you haven’t had any. How dare you rub your domestic bliss in my face.”

Jisoo gave a throaty laugh and settled back into his favourite recliner at Jeonghan’s place. “He’s just that good, I guess.”

Jeonghan’s eyes narrowed. “If you don’t tell me everything I’m going to wait until you’re sleeping and shave your eyebrows off,” he threatened.

Unconcerned, Jisoo took a sip of wine, wriggling his toes. “It’s just really good sex, Hannie,” he said softly. “It was amazing, and he took care of me so sweetly afterwards, and even now that he’s away he’s still collaborating with the kids to sneak me bon-bons and chocolates and things. And he left me a key to his place and asked me to go look after his plants, and this morning he sent me a song that he said he had heard and it made him think of me.”

“Unbelievable,” Jeonghan muttered. “I’m still searching for the perfect guy and you stumble across him barely a block from your shop. I wish I had your luck, Joshuji. It’s even happening at my work, you know? Jihoonie…”

“Your sound man?” Jisoo asked just to be sure.

Jeonghan nodded. “I got in to work the other day and he smiled at me and asked me how I was. Not only that, at lunch he shared his lunch with me. I nearly died of shock. He’s so tsun-tsun it’s charming you know? And now I find out he’s shacking up with some choreographer from a dance studio. Is it in the air? In the water? I want some too!”

Jisoo tilted his head to consider the angelic-looking man sitting across from him. “Have you ever thought about dating a younger guy?” he asked, then frowned as Jeonghan made to interrupt. “I know you said once that older guys are the best, but if you could find someone that’d not only stand firm against your bullshit but love you as you ought to be loved, that would work right? And _yes_ , an alpha, I know how you are.”

Giving an easy cackle, Jeonghan reached to flick his forehead. “Who was the one that sent me a list of starry-eyed emojis afterwards?” Sobering, he sighed. “I don’t know,” he finally admitted. “It’d have to be someone with a strong personality, I’d run rough-shot over someone as adorable as your Cheol. Isn’t that too much to ask?”

Jisoo’s heart ached: as much as Jeonghan was a devil in angel’s clothing he was also one of the best, most caring people he knew. “I don’t think so,” he said truthfully. “I think if it’s someone you feel like you can pamper, but that’ll still stand strong, you’d be very happy. I’ll keep an eye out for you, alright? And I’ll ask at the tattoo and flower shops if they know anyone. It has to be an alpha?”

Jeonghan bit his lip as he considered him before his eyelashes trembled, fluttering as he looked down. “It’s not that I don’t respect the other sub-genders,” he finally said. “But between my sexual preferences and having someone that can also make me feel delicate when I want to, or strong when I want to, it might be best.”

“I live for the day when you and Seungkwanie get into a bitch-fest,” Jisoo sniped before nodding, reaching for his friend’s hand to squeeze it. “Since you’ve been a really good boy and I have this glass of wine in me though, do you want all the salacious details?

Jeonghan’s eyes immediately brightened as he shuffled closer. “Spill!” he demanded. “What’s it like? Does he take his time? Is he a grower or a shower?”

“Hannie,” Jisoo whispered, leaning in confidentially, “he can lift me like a feather, and he has this thing he does with his tongue…”

* * *

One week melted into the other until Jisoo felt he lost the ability to tell one from the other purely because he was so, _so_ very happy. Cheol was everything he adored in a boyfriend. They had their little misunderstandings, but remarkably few of them, and each day he fell a little bit more in love with his tender, amazing alpha. Even the air felt fresher and the weather warmer despite the fact they were moving into a soggy autumn.

Remarkably, somehow Seungkwan held out for five months straight before he dragged Jisoo off to their coffee shop for lunch, leaving Hansol to mind the flower shop. He had been a touch prickly about it, but Jisoo was so disgustingly in love that he only looked at the pouting omega fondly and went with.

“Hyung,” Seungkwan said as they settled down with coffee and castella. “Hyung, I need to ask you a very important question.”

Jisoo nodded amiably at him, breaking the castella in two with his fork and licking the crumbs off. _Mmh, lemony, delicious._ “What is it, Seungkwan-ah?”

Seungkwan straightened a little. “Imagine for a moment that you’re very in love with someone. Like… disgustingly in love. You and this person just mesh in all aspects: they absolutely spoil you, and the sex is absolutely great, and altogether you’re as happy as can be. And then he asks the question. You know… The question.” His cheeks tint with pink. “He asks if he could mate you, if you want to spend your life with him. Do you think you should wait until later in life, like your thirties maybe, or should you go ahead and say yes?”

“Oh gosh,” Jisoo said softly, perking up. “Did Hansolie ask you, Kwan-ah? That’s bold of him.”

Frowning, Seungkwan shook his head. “No, but can you just answer the question, hyung? I just… really look forward to your answer.”

Jisoo frowned but nodded, tilting his head as he considered. “I guess,” he began, “that it would depend on the person. I don’t think there is an absolute need these days to wait that long, especially if you’re relatively stable and so is the person courting you. I’ve never thought that there was a ‘best before’ date, you know? As long as you feel safe and you’ve thought the commitment through, I don’t see why not. Just because our culture has a habit of marrying late, that doesn’t mean you have to.”

Seungkwan smiled slowly at him. “You think so? Really?”

“Yes, really,” Jisoo confirmed. “But what is this about? _Did_ Hansol ask you?”

Seungkwan took a deep breath. “No, but I’m thinking of asking him,” he finally said. “I want to get married, hyung, and perhaps adopt, and have like three dogs. I want to settle down, I can feel it in my bones.”

Jisoo stared at him, mouth agape, until he put his fork down to reach over the table to take Seungkwan’s hands. “That’s brave of you,” he said, grinning. “And I can try to make it easier too, you know? I’ve long thought of promoting you, getting some new staff in. It would mean more money, and you’d have the freedom to set your own times. It would mean a bigger place too, ever since that stupid article we’ve become very popular.”

Abruptly tears filled Seungkwan’s eyes as his lips wobbled into a pout. “You mean that? You wouldn’t mind?”

“No!” Jisoo said stoutly. “Oh my gosh, no. Kwan-ah, you’re like my little brother, you’re family. I’d only be too happy to get you to help out!” He clicked his tongue as Seungkwan burst out in noisy tears, reaching forward to pat his shoulders. “Come on, no. These are happy tears, right? Come on, come over here so I can hug you.”

Though he ended up with a crying omega on his lap, Jisoo discovered that happiness really could increase even as happy as he was, and quietly messaged for Hansol to close the shop and come and take his boyfriend.

That night, relaxing on Seungcheol’s couch as they watched a World Cup match on his TV, he patted his lover’s strong thigh for a little attention. “I think Seungkwanie’s going to ask Hansol to mate him and get married,” he murmured. “I told him that as long as they were both safe and happy and ready to make the commitment, they should, but what do you think?”

Seungcheol petted the back of his head, slowly playing with his hair. “Agree,” he murmured in his deep voice. “Everyone with eyes can see how much they love each other, and I can’t see that changing in the future. You told him about enlarging the shop?”

“Yes, and offered him the managerial position,” Jisoo said. “He was happy, and I can afford to pay enough for them to live together comfortably if they don’t splurge wildly. You know we’ve been experiencing some growth, thanks to that stupid article.”

“And having the same people dub your shop ‘The Little Shop Of Love’ and suggest the air is now magical in attracting love, instead of pheromonal, didn’t help?” Seungcheol teased before he huffed and shut the TV down. “This game is a loss,” he grumbled, before reaching to pull his lover on his lap. “Hello, you. Let’s talk properly.”

Jisoo straddled his lap with ease; it was a position that Seungcheol absolutely loved, and he didn’t feel at all emasculated like this. In fact… _no, concentrate,_ he castigated himself. “So you don’t think it’s a mistake to mate young?”

Seungcheol snorted as he put his hands on his lover’s hips, massaging the sleek swells lovingly. “Fuck no,” he said easily. “I’ve been wanting to mate you since approximately five minutes after I saw you, so of course not.”

Jisoo stilled, shocked to his core. Abruptly the conversation with Seungkwan took on a whole new meaning in his head, and deep in his heart something shifted fundamentally. He had adored Seungcheol before, had loved his pouty moods as well as his fierce, but _this_. Something about this squeezed at his heart, turning his being incredibly light. “Do you mean that?” He slipped his hands up to cup Cheol’s strong jaw and cheekbones. “This is important, so answer seriously, alright?”

Seungcheol sighed and looked at him straight, long lashes never trembling. “Hong Jisoo,” he said softly but firmly. “I’m serious. All that can make me happier than you already make me is mating with you. It doesn’t matter that I’ve only known you a couple of months. I _know_ , love.” He reached to pull Jisoo’s hands down to rest over his heart. “I can feel it in here.”

Jisoo did the only thing he could. Leaning in to kiss his alpha, he freed his hands and hooked them around Cheol’s neck, shifting closer until they pressed together. “Yes,” he muttered against his petal-soft, ruby-red lips. “Yes,” he whispered again. “Of _course_ yes.”

Later that night, taken apart by his lover’s hands and put together again, Jisoo lay staring at the ceiling as Seungcheol slept with his head on his chest.

_I’m happy. I’m so, so happy, thank God for giving me this happiness._ He wasn’t sure whether it was prayer or feeling, but he felt blessed indeed.

The next day, ignoring poor Hansol dreadfully, he pulled Seungkwan in on the pretence of talking about the planned expansion. Jisoo made sure to shut the door carefully, knowing the other alpha wouldn’t listen in, before he pressed Seungkwan down in a chair with a cup of lemon tea and flopped down in his chair. “How would you like to have a double wedding?” he asked bluntly. “I… thought about what you said and how I felt about Cheol, and decided I felt the same.”

The shriek Seungkwan gave proved he didn’t need milkshake to bring the boys to the yard; Hansol burst in, frightened, and was pecked and ushered right back out before Seungkwan slammed the door shut. “You’re kidding,” he said happily. “Tell me you’re kidding. Or rather tell me you’re not kidding.”

“I’m not kidding,” Jisoo said archly. “I am going to put a ring on it and take it off the market. You can’t be allowed to be the _only_ intelligent one here in the shop. I thought we could have something smallish, and sharing the costs might make things a little easier. How about we sneak our closest friends down to Jeju to have the wedding there?”

This time when Seungkwan shrieked, Hansol only knocked and went away again when reassured that everything was fine and all further shrieks should be ignored.

Seungkwan flopped back into his chair with a glint in his eye. “I have,” he announced grandly, “been planning this since I knew what weddings were. Something small would be perfect, not more than twenty or thirty guests, and Jeju would be perfect… _hyung_ , I’m so happy! You’re really not kidding, right? You want to ask Choi Seungcheol to mate you?”

Jisoo smiled the widest he had ever smiled in his life. “I am absolutely serious. Come Christmas, I am asking that man to marry me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>   * This is moving fast, but it's fantasy people. Let's just enjoy fluff together. 
>   * I tentatively left space for a third chapter, if people are really interested in the wedding and mating night hijinks. 
> 



End file.
